"If the goal and objective was to quiet him because they didn't like what he was advocating, then they did more for his cause than quite frankly...even the best lobbyist could do," Albert Watkins, Wiegert's attorney, tells Daily RFT.

Through a federal complaint in U.S. District Court in St. Louis, Wiegert's legal team argues that the police department is suppressing his free-speech rights by refusing to let him work as a paid lobbyist for pro-marijuana group Show-Me Cannabis.

Their story is that Wiegert received approval from his superiors in February to do lobbying work at the Missouri State Capitol, but that a Post-Dispatch column on Wiegert published in March made them change their minds. Watkins says the department immediately revoked the approval of the lobbying activities -- and argues that it was clearly because they didn't want one of their employees to be associated with a marijuana group.

Watkins says the department has issued a gag order against Wiegert, but that the sergeant still hopes he can eventually do lobbying work with Show-Me Cannabis once this matter is resolved. Had the department not retaliated, Wiegert would have been lobbying for bills at the Missouri legislature (similar to the St. Louis proposal) that would permit officers across the state to issue citations rather than arrest and book those found in possession of small amounts of pot.

He would not be advocating for legalization.

In the new response to SLMPD's motion to dismiss, Wiegert's attorneys, quoting past court decisions, write:

Within the context of a public employee, "a public employee does not relinquish First Amendment rights to comment on matters of public interest by virtue of government employment."...The government "cannot condition public employment on a basis that infringes the employee's constitutionally protected interest in freedom of expression."

An SLMPD spokeswoman tells Daily RFT that the department does not comment on pending litigation.

But a March 27 letter from Police Chief Sam Dotson -- which is part of Watkins' latest filing and is on view below -- offers a fair amount of detail on the SLMPD side of the story.

Continue for the letter from Sam Dotson and the full response from Albert Watkins.